It wasn’t enough. Not even close. I wanted a lot more than a kiss and I knew I would have taken it right there on that damn piano if I had stayed in the room any longer.

The knowledge that I was doing the right thing didn’t make it any easier to walk away. Especially not when I saw her puffy lips and her lust-filled eyes. The way her fingers dug into my shoulders when I pulled away made me even weaker.

I almost gave in. A part of me—a very insistent and currently uncomfortable part—seriously regretted leaving. But I had to.

Though I was glad to be following the plan, I still scowled at everyone I walked past on the way upstairs. The cape I wore came around my front enough to cover the large bulge in my slacks, yet I felt like Bryan could somehow see it when he suddenly appeared at the other end of the hall and marched toward me.

“Bryan. Having a good time?”

He didn’t respond until he was close enough for me to hear him as he hissed, “What the fuck, man? This is why you wanted to host?”

“Keep it down,” I warned when his voice raised. A member of security was looking at us with a raised eyebrow so I leaned in and lowly said, “Not here.”

He followed me down the hall and into the guest room, but it was a poor choice of location on my part. As soon as he looked around, he broke into an incredulous fit of laughter.

“Jesus Christ. Are you really going to seduce that girl and bang her here? Seriously? You had to do it in my house?”

“Like you care. You never even go into the guest rooms,” I said with a dramatic roll of my eyes. “And I have no intention of ‘banging’ her.”

“Call it whatever you want, the semantics don’t matter. You threw this whole thing for her, didn’t you? Why didn’t you just tell me from the jump?”

“Because I didn’t particularly care for your opinion on the matter, nor did I want your reaction.”

“My reaction?”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t intend to rib me for this every chance you get. You already started in the ballroom the moment you realized who Evelyn was.”

Bryan had the nerve to open his mouth to argue. It was almost insulting. But after a brief moment of deliberation, his mouth snapped shut and he nodded.

“I admit that you’ve got a point. Speaking of points... Do I need to remind you of all the reasons why this is really fucked up?”

“I fail to see how any of this could be described as fucked up. I think it’s romantic.”

The blank stare he gave me was evidence enough that he disagreed. I decided not to be offended. After all, Bryan’s idea of romance probably involved giving a girl his phone number after screwing her in a nightclub bathroom. He was a great friend, but a total sleaze whenever women were involved. He couldn’t possibly understand where I was coming from.

“Stone, that girl is twenty years younger than you.”

“Seventeen years, actually,” I distractedly corrected him as I moved around the room and checked that everything I asked for was in place.

“That’s close enough! Do you really not see how screwed up it is to arrange this for a former student? No wonder she looked so fucking nervous.”

“For your information, she’s nervous because she feels out of place and has no idea why she was invited to this party,” I said dryly as I peeked into the nightstand drawer. “I wouldn’t have done all this if I had reason to believe she wouldn’t be receptive.”

“You couldn’t just ask her out for coffee or something? You had to take over my party and turn it into some weird sex game?”

I scoffed and closed the drawer, refusing to let it show on my face that I’d just been staring at a box of condoms. Somehow, Bryan seemed to sense it and gave me an unamused scowl.

“Who says I intend to have sex with her?”

“Don’t fuck around. You don’t do up a room like this just to sleep in it.”

“I won’t do anything she doesn’t ask for.”

“So you weren’t making out with her in the music room?”

“She kissed me. After I explicitly asked for her permission.”

Silence descended and I frowned at Bryan’s shocked look. Was it really that much of a surprise?

“Wipe that look off your face. It’s pissing me off,” I snapped. “Like it’s so difficult to believe a woman would be interested in me.”

“It’s not that,” Bryan said with a sigh as his expression turned to concern. “It’s just hard to believe you’d do all this for a woman. I haven’t seen you express an interest in anyone since I’ve known you.”

“I was a bit of a rake in my twenties. After I got it out of my system I chose to focus on work instead.”

“Until Evelyn.”

“Right.”

“Why her? Why not someone closer to your own age?”

“Her age is irrelevant. It had to be her. She... makes me uncomfortable.”

Bryan laughed and said, “Wow. I’ve never heard that used as a plus.”

“You don’t understand. In well over a decade, no woman has made me feel uncomfortable or nervous or anything. Speaking with her and feeling that way makes me feel... strangely happy. I’d like to explore it further.”

More silence as Bryan desperately tried to understand what I was telling him. I knew he wouldn’t—he’d never been in such a position—but I appreciated the effort. After quite a long stretch, he blew out a heavy breath and held up his hands.

“Okay. I don’t get it, but you do what you gotta do. If she’s interested you in return, I guess there really isn’t an issue here.”

“Hmm. Well, I would thank you for your approval if it mattered to me.”

“I’d expect nothing less from you, Chase.”

He moved toward the door like he intended to leave me to my own devices, but froze before twisting the knob. I watched through narrowed eyes as his back straightened with tension and I felt a touch of dread beginning to form.

“The point of the masks was to keep your identity a secret until you were ready, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

He turned back to look at me, a guilty expression on his face.

“I, uh... I might have screwed up.”

My eye began to twitch as I mentally ran through the possibilities of what could have happened. Considering he knew about our kiss, I already deduced that he had seen Evelyn before finding me.

This isn’t good.

“When I found her in the music room, I asked where you were. I… sort of asked for you by name.”

“What exactly did you say? Word for word.”

Bryan hesitated for a moment before repeating the words he’d said to Evelyn.

“Where’s Stone?”

Fuck.